








DEPAETMENT OP THE INTEEIOR-U. S. aEOLOaiCAL SUEVET 

CHARLES D. WALCOTT, DIRECTOR 


THE MIHEHAL HE SOURCES 


OF 


HAWAII 


EXTRACT FROM THE HIHETEENTH AXXHAL REPORT OE THE SURVEY, 1897-98 
PART VI—MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE UNITED STATES, CALENDAR YEAR 
1897 : DAVID T7 DAY, CHIEF OF DIVISION OF MINERAL RESOURCES 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1898 













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MINERAL RESOURCES OF HAWAII. 


The recent acquisition of the Hawaiian (also called Sandwich) 
Islands, causing them to become an integral part of the United States, 
lends renewed interest to this remarkable group, and renders appropri¬ 
ate a brief account of their minerals and certain features bearing upon 
this phase of their resources. As introductory to this a few general 
observations are appropriate. 

History ,—Although known and visited by the earlier navigators 
since their discovery in 1549 by the Spaniards under Gaetano, the 
Hawaiian Islands attracted little attention from the outside world 
until more carefully examined and reported upon by Captain Cook in 
his memorable visits of 1778 and 1779. This great navigator was much 
impressed by their importance, and his reports awakened attention, 
but not until the advent of the American missionaries in 1820 and sub¬ 
sequently did the wonderful fertility and possibilities of these islands 
begin to be fully recognized. Even then there was little development, 
because there was practically no outside market for their products and 
the local requirements were so simple and limited, while occasional 
visits of traders and whalers gave little stimulus. But with the settling 
and rapid development of the Pacific coast of the United States an 
outlet for the exportation of tropical fruits, etc., and later of sugar, was 
opened, and from that time on progress has been marked and constant. 

American influence has predominated during the last seventy or 
eighty years, though English and other settlers were also present and 
helped to effect the change in the habits, pursuits, and condition of the 
aboriginal inhabitants. When first known to Europeans the islands 
were under a sort of feudal and hieratic system or systems, which 
were consolidated into a single monarchy by the conquests of Kame- 
hameha I. Later the Government became a liberal, limited monarchy, 
with a constitution, and having in part a representative character. 
This was overthrown by the revolution of 1892. During the Adminis¬ 
tration of President Harrison a treaty annexing the islands to the 
United States was negotiated, but it was withdrawn by President 
Cleveland. On June 15, 1898, the Newlands joint resolution of annex¬ 
ation was passed by the House of Representatives, and by the Senate 
July 6 following. The signature by President McKinley, July 7, and 
the formal raising of the American flag in August, completed the 
annexation. 


681 



682 


MINERAL RESOURCES. 


Geography .—The Hawaiian Islands are in latitude 18^ 51' to 22^ 50' X., 
and longitude 154^ 50' to IGl^ 40' W., and are about 2,700 miles south¬ 
west of San Franciseo. There are twelve islands in the group, of 
which nine are inhabited, and three are barren rocks. The total area 
is 6,677 square, miles. Hawaii proper, the largest island, contains 
about 4,000 square miles. Oahu is the most important commercially, 
having the line harbor of Honolulu and Pearl Harbor. The other 
principal islands are Maui, Molokai, and Kaui. 

The interior of the larger islands is mountainous, with elevations 
ranging up to the 13,805 feet of Mauna Kea, on Hawaii. There are 
fertile valleys and i)lateaus of varying elevation, rainfall, and tempera¬ 
ture, and the lowlands bordering the ocean. 

Population .—The estimate of 400,000 inhabitants given by Captain 
Cook a century ago was doubtless excessive. In 1820 there were 
supposed to be about 130,000 natives, since which time they have 
been steadily diminishing. Originally a line, strong, brave, but too 
docile and hospitable a race, they have succumbed to the mistaken 
efforts of their well-meaning civilizers, the natural result of radical 
and sudden changes of diet, clothing, habits, etc., upon a physique 
evolved during ages of adjustment to environment; while the diseases 
and vices introduced by traders and sailors have had a further deteri¬ 
orating effect, so that in 1890 only 34,436 of the native stock remained, 
the fact that the native Hawaiians are still,dying off being indicated 
by the decrease of 5,578 between 1884 and 1890. In the latter year the 
total population was 89,990; it is now larger, immigration having more 
than offset native losses. There were 15,301 Chinese and 12,369 Jap¬ 
anese on the islands in 1890, which numbers have been increased. No 
fewer than 15,191 Portuguese had arrived in the islands by 1895, 
nearly all of whom were ^‘assisted” immigrants from the Azores. At 
present there are some 7,000 Americans, British, Germans, and Nor¬ 
wegians there, of whom about 2,200 are of island birth, and somewhat 
over 2,000 were born in the United States. It is expected that the 
number of Americans and of desirable European settlers will be con¬ 
siderably increased by immigration. It is also anticipated that the 
material prosperity of the islands will still further improve under the 
new and stable control. 

Agriculture in relation to minerals .—The agricultural capacity of the 
islands far overshadows the mineral, strictly speaking. Yet it is 
owing to the peculiar mineral constituents of the soils, together with 
the stored accumulations of organic matter and in connection with a 
favoring climate as regards temperature, suidight, dryness or humidity, 
and distribution of rainfall, that the adaptability to certain crops, 
especially the sugar cane, coffee, tropical and semitropical fruits, veg¬ 
etables, and nuts must be ascribed. The mineral resources of first 
importance are therefore the soils, as the basis for agricultural 
prosperity. 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF HAWAII. 


683 


Since thus far attention has mainly and naturally been directed toward 
the development of agriculture, the efforts and opportunities to utilize 
and exploit the mineral resources other than the soils themselves have 
been comparatively slight. Nor is it to be anticipated that the useful 
mineral products will be of great importance relatively, being limited, 
both in kind and in quantity. The actual number of mineral species 
identified is quite large, corresponding to those of similar volcanic 
areas, but most of them are mineralogical specimens merely, rather 
than available for commercial purposes. Still, it must not be under¬ 
stood that the mineral wealth of Hawaii is wholly insignificant. On 
the contrary, there is an apparent field for a considerable development. 
The scientific study of the group has mostly been turned toward the 
physical geography, phenomena of vulcanism, coral growth, and lat¬ 
terly the chemical examination of the soils, the mineralogical interest 
being subsidiary. 

Geology .—The core and mass of the islands consists of volcanic rocks 
built up from the ocean floor in comparatively recent geologic times, 
though at long intervals, as measured by years or centuries. These 
rocks range from basalt to trachyte, forming a complete series, from the 
most basic to the acidic, but consisting almost wholly of the more basic 
members, acidic rocks being much less occurrent. The proportion of the 
basic rocks is so large that one authority says: ^‘Our lavas are strictly 
basalts.’’ The two main classes of phonolites and graystones are, how¬ 
ever, recognized with the usual intermediate species, varieties, and 
shades of gradation. Part of the rock masses are quite fresh, part much 
altered by chemical action and weathering. As the volcanoes, ancient 
and extinct to the recent and active Kilauea and Mauna Loa, all rise from 
the dee]>-sea bottom to in some cases great elevations above the sea 
surface, they are the most notable examples in point of magnitude and 
existing interest known. The craters are of both the primary and the 
lateral-cone types, and some of the older ones are not now recognizable, 
owing to weathering, denudation, and filling. Parts of ancient empty 
volcano throats have been exposed by caving. 

Besides the predominating basalt of the eruptive rocks there are 
heavy fringing and barrier coral reefs, some of which have been ele¬ 
vated far above sea level, and in disintegrating and then compacting a 
calcareous sandstone has been formed, in addition to the coral lime¬ 
stone of the reefs in iilace. There are no true fossiliferous strata, but 
fossil shells and corals of recent species are found embedded in some of 
the volcanic tufas. 

Mineralogy .—According to Mr. S. B. Dole some of the minerals noticed 
are sulphur, iiyrite, common salt, sal ammoniac, limonite, quartz, augite, 
chrysolite, garnet, labradorite, feldspar, gypsum, soda-alum, copperas, 
glauber salt (sodium sulphate), niter, and calcite. The Hawaiian vol¬ 
canoes have been natural laboratories, working on an almost unprece¬ 
dented scale, with the strong decomposing agency of acid steam, high 


G84 


MINERAL RESOURCES. 


temperature, rainfall, and perhaps sea infiltration, so that secondary 
decomposition products are numerous and common. Many of the min¬ 
erals identified have no economic significance, while others occur too 
sparsely to be profitably utilized. As at other volcanic localities and 
island resorts much frequented by travelers and health seekers, there 
is a considerable trade in specimens and curiosities of the two extreme 
types of i)roducts, the volcanic and the marine. These consist in min¬ 
erals and fantastic lava forms from the craters and corals and shells 
from the shores and sea. 

The geological conditions are against the occurrence of deposits of 
ores of the precious and other heavy metals, and, of course, i^reclude 
the formation of coal beds. 

Soils .—These are derived from the volcanic lavas. According to 
Prof. Walter Maxwell, director and chief chemist of the Hawaiian 
experiment station,^ the lavas are (1) those which have been discharged 
from craters, flowing and cooling into rocks having the composition of 
normal basalts. Others (2), originally of the same composition, have 
undergone such alteration that they now compose masses having a radi¬ 
cally different composition and color. Professor Maxwell’s classification 
is as follows: 

1. Dark-red soils, formed by the simple weathering of normal lavas, 
in climatic conditions of great heat and dryness. 

2. Yellow and light-red soils, derived from lavas which underwent 
great alteration, under the action of steam and sulphurous vapors, at the 
time of or after emission from the craters. 

3. Sedimentary soils, derived from the decomposition of lavas at 
higher altitudes, and removal and deposition by rainfall at lower levels. 

The color is an iudication of the amount and condition of the iron 
present, and is also aft'ected by carbonaceous matters. In general, the 
dark-red and sedimentary soils are distinguished by a greater and more 
permanent fertility than the yellow or light-red soils. 

Sulphur .—The craters and upper slopes of the volcanoes are, or have 
been, vast soKataras, of which that of Kilauea is now the most notable. 
Numberless fumaroles or pipes and fissures of varying size extend from 
the heated interior to the surface, affording vents for sulphurous vapors. 
About them the surface is white with deposits of sulphur, and upon 
their sides and in places below the surface masses of the pure mineral 
are crystallized out. The quantity is so marked that one locality at 
Kilauea is known as the “sulphur banks,” though this is but one of 
many remarkable occurrences. 

Pyrite occurs as a secondary rock constituent, but not in segregated 
masses or veins in sufficient quantity to form a basis for acid making. 

The water condensed from the steam and vapors of the fumaroles is 
charged with sulphuric acid, samples running as high as 5 x>er cent. It 
is not altogether inconceivable that some utilization might in future be 


J Lavas and Soils of the Hawaiian Islands, 1898. 




MINERAL RESOURCES OF HAWAII. 


685 


discovered for the immense quantity of mineral acid constantly escaping 
in this dilute form. 

Gypsum. —Very large deposits of this mineral occur, some of it almost 
pure, as shown by the following partial analysis: CaO, 43.4 per cent; 
SO3, 44.73 per cent; Si 02 , 4 per cent; Fe 203 , 0.7 per cent; MgO, 0.5 per 
cent. This is another substance which might be utilized, as land plas¬ 
ter if not as plaster of paris, though the small content of iron in the 
analysis just quoted (from Professor Maxwell) shows it to be suitable 
for making a very clean plaster of paris. 

Alum. —The mineral of the so-called alum deposits is a mixture of the 
sulphates of the alkalies, iron, and alumina, with an excess of sulphuric 
acid. A sample analyzed as follows: AI 2 O 3 , 26.2 per cent; Fe 203 , 12.3 
per cent; SO3, 45.6 per cent, with small quantities of CaO, MgO, K 2 O, 
Na 20 , and Si 02 . This occurs in large quantity and could be purified 
for commercial use. 

Copperas (iron sulphate) is formed by the action of sulphurous vapors 
and waters upon the ferruginous basalts. It is only of miueralogical 
interest in this connection. 

Glauber salt is similarly produced, probably from the soda liberated 
in the decomposition of the soda feldspars of the rocks; hardly from 
the salt of sea water, since free chlorine is not detected. 

Sal-ammoniac (ammonium chloride) occurs as an efflorescence. 

Mineral paints .—Eed ocher (hematite and laterite) and yellow ocher 
(limonite) of vivid hues are abundant, as is also brown hematite. These 
are decomposition products derived by oxidation from the iron of the 
volcanic rocks, and are found in large pockets and in layers covering 
the surface of altered rock masses and along the jointing planes of the 
blocks. A sample of red ocher gave Fe 203 , 44.5 per cent; Si 02 , 32.5 
per cent; AI 2 O 3 , 18.1 per cent, with moisture and small percentages of 
OaO, MgO, K 2 O, ]S’a 20 , and S. The yellow ocher consists in large pro¬ 
portion of silica; when burned it becomes pink or red. The quantity 
available and the good color of these ochers are such that attempts 
have been made to establish an export trade in them, but manufac¬ 
turers of mineral paints in the United States are influenced by the 
accessibility of similar ochers nearer points of consumption. Their 
excellence and the results to be obtained by proper selection, grinding, 
burning, or mixing to produce different shades, should lead to further 
experiment to obtain for them something more than a restricted local 
utilization. 

Some of the kaolinized rock, from which the iron has been leached 
out, forms a white clay, which might be used, as in other localities, for 
whitewashing, for which purpose a natural free lime, also an alteration 
product, is also obtainable. 

Building stone^ etc .—The climatic conditions and mode of life of the 
inhabitants do not call for much construction in stone, though there is 
an abundance of available material, only a little of which is utilized. 


686 


MINERAL RESOURCES. 


V 

The coral limestone, calcareous and siliceous sandstones, primary- 
eruptive rocks of fair cleavage and tufa afford a considerable variety 
from which to choose, but wooden construction is more common. Koad 
material, stone for fences, jetties, fillings, etc., are also at hand. All 
these, together with the excellent clays for brick and tile making, 
lime and building sand, have but local application. The lime is obtain¬ 
able by burning the coral limestone and shells. 

Kaolin .—Pockets of large size and sometimes very pure material 
have been found. This mineral results from the decomposition of the 
rock-constituent minerals, especially feldspars, the silica and alumina 
separated out being recombined. The scale upon which the rock alter¬ 
ation has gone on warrants the assumption that workable deposits of 
kaolin may be numerous. 

Pumice .—The froth and scoriae at the surface of cooling lava flows 
yield a sort of pumice, serviceable either as a powder after crushing or 
when broken into blocks of convenient size. The filaments blown by 
the winds from the surface of molten lava, called “Pele’s hair,^’ are 
interesting specimens, corresponding in mode of formation to the artifi¬ 
cial mineral wool produced by steam jets acting upon iron slag, which 
itself is analogous to lava. 

Obsidian (volcanic glass) is noted merely as a curiosity. 

Salt .—An industry of some local imi)ortauce is the gathering of sea 
salt from accumulations formed by the natural concentration and evap¬ 
oration of sea water, while the configuration of the shores in places, 
with suitable inlets and lagoons, aided by the strong solar evaporation, 
favors the artificial production of this commodity. 

Kacre, or mother-of-pearl, occurs, and with other ornamental shells 
and corals forms pretty specimens. 

Pearls have been found, but a productive industry of commercial 
importance remains to be established. 

In conclusion, it may be said that the most important and promising 
mineral products of the Hawaiian Islands are the sulphur, gypsum, 
alum, mineral-paint ochers, all of which occur in large quantities and 
of good quality, and common salt, which latter is producible according 
to the demand. Besides these, some of the other substances already 
noted or yet to be found may come into commerce to an extent not now 
understood. At least there is much encouragement for further explo¬ 
ration and experiment in the finding, working, preparing, and market¬ 
ing of the useful minerals of Hawaii. 



M't ^ -I f 

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